Baseball

BELMONT, NC - Belmont Abbey earned a 13-4 victory over Coker Tuesday afternoon in men's collegiate baseball. With the win, the Crusaders improve to 16-25 overall and 10-8 in the CVAC.

The Abbey pulled ahead in the second inning when Nick Popp hit a two-run double to score Alex Udwari and Seth Waller. The Cobras cut the deficit by a run in the third when Nick Fletcher stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher. He then caught the pitcher napping and stole home for a 2-1 score.

Coker tied the score at 2-2 in the top of the fifth when Brook Urquhart smashed a solo homer off the score board but BAC answered with a big inning. Udwari hit an RBI single to give the Crusaders the 3-2 lead and then moved to third on a double by Waller. Michael Gegorek hit a single to score both runners and then came home himself on a two-run blast from Popp. Daniel Cayton followed with a walk and, after advancing to third, scored on a failed pick off attempt at first base for the 8-2 advantage.

Seth Weinberg hit Coker's second solo of the day in the sixth inning but Belmont Abbey answered with two more runs in their half when Josh Haire and Waller both doubled and scored. A pair of CC errors helped the Abbey plate three more runs in the seventh and T.J. Dawson doubled and scored in the eighth for the Cobras to complete the scoring.

Andrew Morton picked up the win for BAC, pitching eight innings with three earned runs allowed and eight strikeouts. Popp went 2-5 with four RBI and a run scored while Waller also went 2-5 with a RBI and three runs scored. Tyler McKenzie, Haire, and Udwari all had two hits as well. Urquhart and Weinberg both had three hits to lead the Cobras.